THE quartet of Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Liren Ding, and Vladislav Artemiev booked semifinal seats after booting out their respective rivals in the Goldmoney Asian Rapid Tournament at the chess24.com server last Wednesday.
Carlsen was taken into overtime by Wesley So after the latter won the second set, 2½-1½. Wesley’s two hard-fought rook and pawn victories in the second set, however, apparently took the steam out of the Cavite-born native and lost ½-1½ in the blitz tiebreaker. Aronian was also extended by Arjun Ergaisi, but prevailed 1½-½ in the tiebreak. Ding ousted Jan-Krzysztof Duda in regulation, as did Artemiev who has the easiest task of eliminating Anish Giri without losing a single game.
It will be Carlsen versus Aronian and Ding versus Artemiev in the semifinals.
So, Wesley (2770)-Carlsen, M (2847) [C53]
chess24.com (1.23) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.e5 d5 7.Bb5 Ne4 8.cxd4 Bb6 9.Nc3 0-0 10.Be3 Bg4 11.h3 Bh5 12.Qb3 Bxf3 13.gxf3 Ng5 14.0-0-0 Nxf3 15.Qxd5 Qxd5 16.Nxd5 Bxd4 17.Bxc6 Bxe3+ 18.fxe3 bxc6 19.Ne7+ Kh8 20.Nxc6 Rae8 21.Rhf1 Nxe5 22.Nxe5 Rxe5 23.Rxf7 Rc5+ 24.Kb1 Kg8 25.Re7 Rf7 26.Rd8+ Rf8 27.Rd1 h6 28.a3 a5 29.Rdd7 Rg5 30.Rxc7 Rf1+ 31.Rc1 Rf2 32.h4 Rg4 33.Rh1 Re2 34.Ka2 a4 35.h5 Rg5 36.Rh4 Rb5 37.Rb4 Rxh5 38.Rxa4 Rg5 39.Rb4 Kh7 40.a4 h5 41.Ka3 Kh6 42.Rc4 Rg3 43.a5 Rgxe3+ 44.Rxe3 Rxe3+ 45.Ka4 g5 46.a6 g4 47.Rc6+ Kg5 48.b4 Re1 49.Rc3 h4 50.a7 Re8 51.Rc5+ Kf4 52.b5 g3 53.b6 g2 54.b7 Re4+ 55.Ka5 g1Q 56.b8Q+ Ke3 57.Rc3+ 1-0
Carlsen, M (2847)-So, Wesley (2770) [D37]
chess24.com (1.24) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e3 a6 6.a4 b6 7.Bxc4 Bb7 8.0-0 Bb4 9.Qe2 0-0 10.Rd1 Qe7 11.Bd3 c5 12.Na2 Nc6 13.Nxb4 Nxb4 14.b3 Nxd3 15.Rxd3 Be4 16.Rd1 Rfc8 17.Ba3 Qb7 18.dxc5 bxc5 19.Rdc1 Qxb3 20.Bxc5 Nd7 21.Bd4 Rxc1+ 22.Rxc1 Qxa4 23.Ne5 Nxe5 24.Bxe5 Bd5 25.f3 f6 26.Bd6 Rd8 27.Qb2 Bb3 28.Qa3 Qb5 29.h3 e5 30.Rb1 Qd3 31.Qxb3+ Qxb3 32.Rxb3 Rxd6 33.Rb7 h5 34.h4 Rd3 35.e4 a5 36.Ra7 Ra3 37.Kf2 a4 38.Ra8+ Kf7 39.Ra7+ Kg6 40.Kg3 Ra2 41.Kh3 Ra1 42.g3 Ra2 43.f4 a3 44.fxe5 fxe5 45.g4 Ra1 46.g5 a2 47.Kg2 Kh7 48.Kh2 Kg6 49.Kg2 Re1 50.Ra6+ Kf7 51.Rxa2 Rxe4 52.Kh3 Rd4 53.Ra7+ Kg6 54.Re7 Re4 55.Kg3 Rg4+ 56.Kh3 e4 57.Ra7 Rf4 58.Re7 Rg4 59.Ra7 Kf5 60.Rxg7 e3 61.Rf7+ Ke4 62.Re7+ Kd3 63.Rd7+ Kc2 64.Re7 Kd2 65.Rd7+ Ke1 66.Rh7 Kf2 67.Rf7+ Ke1 68.Rh7 e2 69.Rxh5 Re4 70.g6 Kd2 71.Rd5+ Ke3 0-1
Carlsen, M (2847)-So, Wesley (2770) [A29]
chess24.com (1.31) 2021
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Bc5 7.0-0 0-0 8.d3 h6 9.Nxd5 Qxd5 10.Nd2 Qd8 11.Nc4 Re8 12.b3 Be6 13.Bxc6 bxc6 14.Be3 Bd6 15.Rc1 Qd7 16.Qc2 Bd5 17.f3 f5 18.Nd2 Bb4 19.Rf2 Re6 20.Rg2 h5 21.Nc4 Rae8 22.Rd1 Qe7 23.Qc1 Rg6 24.Bxa7 e4 25.dxe4 fxe4 26.f4 e3 27.Ne5 Bd2 28.Qc2 Re6 29.Qf5 Rf8 30.Qxh5 Rxe5 31.Qxe5 Qxe5 32.fxe5 Bxg2 33.Kxg2 Rf2+ 34.Kg1 Rxe2 35.e6 Bb4 36.Rd4 Be7 37.Re4 c5 38.a4 Kf8 39.Re5 Rb2 40.Rxe3 Bd6 41.Rc3 Rb1+ 42.Kg2 Rb2+ 43.Kh3 c4 44.bxc4 Ra2 45.Bd4 g6 46.c5 Be7 47.Rb3 Bd8 48.Rb8 Ke7 49.Be3 1-0
Duda, J-K (2729)-Ding, L (2799) [C59]
chess24.com (1.24) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Be2 h6 9.Nh3 Bd6 10.d3 0-0 11.0-0 c5 12.Bf3 Rb8 13.Kh1 Bc7 14.Ng1 Qd6 15.g3 Nc6 16.Na3 Nd4 17.Nc4 Qa6 18.Bg2 e4 19.Be3 Rd8 20.Qc1 Bb7 21.b3 Qe6 22.dxe4 Nxe4 23.Re1 Qd5 0-1
Aronian, L (2781)-Erigaisi, A (2567) [D04]
chess24.com (1.31) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 Bf5 4.c4 e6 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Qa4+ Nc6 7.Ne5 0-0 8.Nxc6 Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 bxc6 10.f3 Qd7 11.Be2 Rfb8 12.0-0 c5 13.Qa5 cxd4 14.cxd4 h6 15.Ba3 c6 16.Rac1 Rb6 17.Rc3 Rab8 18.Rfc1 Rb1 19.Bf1 h5 20.h4 Bg6 21.Qc5 dxc4 22.Rxc4 Nd5 23.e4 Ne3 24.Rxb1 Rxb1 25.Rc1 Rxc1 26.Bxc1 Nxf1 27.Kxf1 Qb7 28.Kf2 Qa6 29.a3 Qb6 30.Qc3 Qb5 31.Bf4 a5 32.Bd6 a4 33.Bb4 Kh7 34.Qc2 e5 35.dxe5 Qxe5 36.Qxc6 Qh2 37.Qxa4 Qxh4+ 38.Kg1 Qg5 39.Qd1 h4 40.Kh1 h3 41.g4 Qh4 42.Qf1 f6 43.Kh2 Kg8 44.Qxh3 Qf2+ 45.Qg2 Qe3 46.Qg3 Be8 47.Kg2 Ba4 48.Qf2 Qd3 49.Bc5 Bb5 50.Qe3 Qf1+ 51.Kg3 Qc4 52.Bd4 Kf7 53.e5 Qc7 54.f4 fxe5 55.Bxe5 Qd7 56.f5 Qd3 57.Qxd3 Bxd3 58.a4 Bc4 59.a5 g6 60.f6 Ke6 61.Kf4 Ba6 62.Ke3 Kf7 63.g5 1-0
Giri, A (2780)-Artemiev, V (2704) [B12]
chess24.com (1.21) 2021
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.h4 h5 5.c4 e6 6.Nc3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 Nd7 8.Nge2 Be7 9.g3 Bg4 10.Bf4 Nh6 11.Qd3 b5 12.Bb3 Nc5 13.Qd1 Nxb3 14.axb3 b4 15.Bxh6 bxc3 16.Bxg7 cxb2 17.Rb1 Rg8 18.Bf6 Qd5 19.Rh2 Ba3 20.Bg5 Bf5 21.Nc3 Bb4 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Na3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Ka4 2.Kb2#; 1…Kxa3 2.Ra1#;
and 1…Kc5 2.Kd3#./PN
